Chemical engineering department at King Saud University provides laboratory courses for undergraduates in unit operations, process control, material science, and petroleum engineering. the laboratories for these courses are well equiped. The following gives a brief description.

• Chemical engineering laboratory, ChE 402: fluid dynamics, unit operations of particulate solids, heat transfer, mass transfer.

• Chemical engineering laboratory, ChE 403: separation processes, chemical reaction engineering.

• Chemical engineering laboratory, ChE 405: dynamics and control of chemical processes.

• Material science and engineering laboratory, ChE 331: material science and corrosion.

• Petroleum engineering laboratory, ChE 441: petroleum engineering.

Each lab has specific objectives, besides the general objectives which are common to all labs.

The laboratory course is aimed at exploring previously learned knowledge, acquiring new knowledge by practice, and developing various skills and attitudes. To successfully complete this course, students are expected to acquire, in an integrated approach, a variety of skills such as: experimentation, communication, instrumentation, mathematical modeling and statistical analysis, troubleshooting, startup and shutdown, and safety. This endeavor is expected to bridge the gap between the expectations of industry and the education our graduates receive, by exposing students to some reality and allowing them to feel and solve real problems.

Each student is expected to run certain experiments, to perform the required calculations and to submit a technical report. Grading includes these activities and some oral and written exams, and presentations during the course.

ChE 402 (Click to see photos)

1. Double pipe heat exchanger.

2. Solid handling.

3. Thermal conductivity.

4. Pump performance.

5. Filtration.

6. Friction losses in pipes and fittings.

7. Fluidization.

8. Evaporation.

ChE 403 (Click to see photos)

1. Chemical reactors.

2. Continuous and batch distillation.

3. Cooling towers.

4. Absorption.

5. Drying.

6. Liquid-liquid extraction.

7. Ion exchange.

ChE 405 (Click to see photos)

1. Open-loop dynamics of two interacting storage tanks.

2. Open-loop dynamics of temperature sensors

3. Open loop dynamics of three stirred tanks in series.

4. Open-loop response of tank pressure to step disturbances.

5. Determination of PID settings for Level Control System

6. Pressure control using pneumatic pressure controller.

7. Level automatic control with outflow.

8. Temperature control system (Test 1).

9. Temperature control system (Test 2).

ChE 441 (Click to see photos)

1. Viscosity.

2. Flash and fire point.

3. Melting point.

4. Cloud and pour point.

5. Determination of water in oil.

6. Atmospheric and vacuum distillation of crude oil.

ChE 331 (Click to see photos)

1. Hardness.

2. Tensile test.

3. Impact test.

Each lab is equipped with the required facilities which help achieving the lab objectives. For example each lab has emergency exits, emergency showers and eyewash facilities, personal protective equipment, fire extinguishers, and first aid equipments. All labs are equipped with fire protection systems, which are supposed to operate automatically at around 70 oC. Tap water, distilled water, and steam are also available.

A computer lab is available which serves all the lab courses and other courses in the department. Several packages are available such as: Aspen, Matlab, SuperPro design, CHEMCAD, EZsolve. A mechanical workshop and an electronic workshop are available which serve both educational and research labs.

Location and size of each lab

In addition to these students labs, the department has Analysis lab and Faculty research labs.